Lavare Via Il Dolore (Washing Away the Pain)
by Landscaper01
Summary: After Bruce and Alfred finally make amends in Italy, Bruce's heart is free of the weights of Gotham, and he's finally able to fully let himself love Selina Kyle. When he finds her on their hotel roof in the rain, they both open themselves up to the moment. Mature content.


**AN: **Just yours truly again, back with another one-shot smutty BatCat fic at the request of reader "nogood4me". Hope this one meets your expectations!

Once again, this has nothing to do with my other story. It's just pure BatCat porny fluff, with my own NC-17 rating to warn away anyone who missed the M rating and would want to stop reading now. ;) For everyone who wants to keep reading, however, the scene is set in Italy and picks up from right after Bruce sees Alfred. Assume for the sake of the story that Bruce and Selina have been in Italy for a few months.

A huge shout-out also goes to IreneSelina for the tumblr post that inspired this story: It Was A Dark and Rainy Knight ( post/32590707216/it-was-a-dark-and-rainy-knight).

* * *

"Bruce, go after him."

He dropped his head for a moment, staring fixated at the hands that he was wringing together in front of him, the rest of the crowded café blurring away and becoming nothing but background noise. He had finally had his moment. That moment where the man who had been like a father to him – the man who had mentored him, fed him, sheltered him, _protected _him – had seen him alive, happy. Had known that Bruce had finally _made _it. Just like they had talked about so many months ago. A moment Bruce was once sure would never happen.

What were the odds, really, of them finding each other at _this_ café in Florence? There were hundreds of cafés in this city. It was like fate would always draw Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth back together. Time, distance and even the bitter words they had exchanged back in Gotham would never erase their bond.

Bruce looked up into Selina's dark eyes, which were staring back at him full of confusion and even a bit of annoyance as she waited for him to make his move. To follow the path that Alfred had taken when he'd pushed back his chair and walked away from the patio, his white hair blending in easily with the hundreds of people on holiday who were milling about on the banks of one of Italy's most famous rivers.

"Selina, it isn't that easy," he explained as he let out a breath. He hadn't realized he'd even been holding it. "What transpired between Alfred and myself before he left Gotham…it was deep. Deeper than I can even begin to explain. What I _can_ tell you, however, is that he wanted to see me happy. Free of the Batman. And here I am. Sitting here, with you, happier than I can ever remember being, and _he _saw it. _He _knows I'm alive. That I've made it. I don't need to go after him. He got what he wanted all along."

Selina sat back and crossed her arms, frowning, the blue of the dress she wore actually highlighting the shift in her mood because the color spoke of lightness while the look on her face betrayed something darker, more complex. Bruce was used to it by now – these instances where she wanted what was best for him, too, and so she fought him tooth and nail to do as she asked or expected.

"You're going to regret it if you don't go talk to him. I never had a relationship with my father, Bruce. Not one worth remembering, anyway. The man who was your flesh and blood father is in the ground," she pointed out bluntly. "Letting the man who acted as your father just walk off into the sunset because the two of you shared a _look_ is bullshit. You need to make things right with him. You and I both know it."

Her words stung as if she had slapped him across the face, and Bruce's jaw tensed as he regarded her challenging posture. In the short time they had been in Italy, this woman had been hell on wheels to keep up with, but thus far, worth every ounce of energy he had put into the effort. In fact, he was entirely convinced that she was also apparently put on this earth to both test his patience and fulfill his desires for a partner who was his equal…his missing half. She could infuriate him as quickly as she could thrill him, could warm his heart as quickly as she could seduce him, and could match him in a battle of wits before he even knew the game had started.

"Let me ask you something…why is it so important to _you_ that I do this, Selina?" He leaned forward, elbows resting on the café table as he reached to grasp one of her hands, which she deliberately kept away from him. "I understand how you feel about it affecting _me_, but why does it affect _you_? I'm still going to be the same person, whether Alfred and I speak again, or not."

Selina shook her head sadly, and Bruce could have sworn he saw unshed tears glistening in her eyes, which she quickly pushed back as she swallowed the lump in her throat. "No, you won't be," she said steadily, keeping her voice at an exceptionally quiet, but almost steely level. "You can't open yourself up to _me_, to _us, fully_, if you don't resolve your past life first. Alfred is a part of you. And I need all of you. In tact. Call me selfish that way."

She pushed back her own chair, then, standing, and he eyed her wearily. The lightness and carefree nature they had experienced all day was now a memory, taking a backseat to the apparent urgency she felt about Bruce finally getting something _right_ in his life.

"Where are you going, Selina?"

She reached down to clasp his hand. "_I'm _going for a walk. Back to the hotel. I'll wait for you there. You can come find me after you've made amends with your butler."

Bruce looked up at the sky and raised an eyebrow at her. Storm clouds had been threatening the area all day, and it was likely she wouldn't make it even the short distance back to their hotel without getting soaked. "Really? You're going to walk in the rain?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "I've survived worse storms, Wayne. So have you."

* * *

Selina stood in the rain, barely feeling the cold water running over her and soaking her to the skin. She knew she had been crying – for what, she wasn't even sure - and was thankful that the tears were being washed away. Before Bruce could see them, and know. They couldn't stick to her or stay with her. No, they were not going to brand her. They would just flow, and then be gone without a trace. She stared out at the lights of the city, the shadows of Florence's Roman-style architecture dancing in her eyes. It was dark now, and she was thankful for that too.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, reminding her that she was alive and would survive this day, as back-and-forth as it had been. But would she survive _him_? Was she such a horrible person, for demanding that he finally brought the turmoil in his life to a close? For wanting him to shut the book on Gotham and start fresh, with her? She was thinking of his hazel, piercing eyes that always saw right through her, even when she didn't always act in her _own _best interests. When she couldn't find any good in herself back in Gotham, he had seen it. He had come all the way across the ocean with her, had taken much of her crap since, but always dared her to really mean what she was saying.

She moved to the ledge of the hotel roof and touched the cement with her shaking fingers. There were so many whys now. Too many. But there was one above all others. Why did she feel whole, only with him? She knew if he showed up now and told her that, despite his being gone for hours, he _hadn't _gone after Alfred, it wouldn't change the way she felt about him. For once in her life, someone had turned the tables on Selina Kyle. For all of the stealing she had once done, Bruce Wayne had stolen her heart and now kept the key tucked firmly in his own grasp.

Bruce stood with his hand on the doorknob to their room, staring at it as though it would give him the answer he needed. He was there, and should just go inside and change out of his wet clothes. He knew it was wrong, but he didn't want to see Selina. Not now. Not at this second. He wanted to be alone. _Needed _it after the past few hours. Just a delay of the inevitable…of telling her that she had been right. Again. So he walked down the hall and trudged up the stairs, trying to shake the overwhelming feelings that were taking over. His control was all but gone and it was a foreign feeling, for someone who used to _bleed _control the way he did. He pushed the metal door open wide and stepped onto the roof, oblivious to the water that instantly struck him in the face. But he saw her. She was soaking wet, with her back to him, and then he heard the slamming of the heavy door behind him. It was just the two of them, the lights below, and the storm clouds overhead. The air smelled of the mustiness of the old buildings of the city.

_What were the chances?_ he thought to himself. _That she would come up here, of all places._

He could hear her breathing from here, and scanned her briefly. The length of her dress was clinging to her legs, seemingly held in place by the wide belt around her slender waist. Her hair was down and the button-up shirt she had thrown over her shoulders as a defense from the rain – _his_shirt – had become transparent from the rain, and he inhaled sharply. She slowly turned around, meeting his bewildered gaze with one of her own. How had this happened to them? He didn't know, and he suspected, neither did she. But it was happening. It was real. Real that she knew his thoughts and feelings before he even told her. He suspected, then, that he didn't even need to tell her what had happened with Alfred. That they had talked, and made up. She already knew, just by looking at him. Saw the weights off of his shoulders. Saw him free to love her.

He didn't see what he thought he would when he looked at her. He expected more of Selina being Selina. More resistance. Her own walls were often up not to guard him against their physicality, but to keep her from feeling. From loving him in return. But her wide, dark eyes were shining with something entirely different. Acceptance. She was giving in to whatever _this _was – whatever they had become since leaving Gotham - and before he even knew what he would do, he was in front of her. He was bending and taking her lips under his own with fierce determination. He was lost.

Selina turned and saw him and knew that it was all over. He was sopping wet, still wearing the light purple collared shirt and jeans he'd been wearing earlier in the day, only now the rain that drenched his clothing had darkened the colors considerably. It matched the darkness of his eyes when he looked at her, but this time it was from lust – love? – instead of anger or stubbornness. She couldn't keep pushing him away because she wasn't strong enough. And because she didn't want to. Bruce Wayne, for all of his heaviness, was finally free. She could see it now. He moved so fast, and then kissed her and she opened for him instantly. He was commanding, leading her, and she followed with all her heart. She moaned as he slowed their pace, nipping her bottom lip and then tracing it with his tongue. His hands were far from idle, sliding over her back and down lower, over the curves of her hips, grinding her against his pelvis in the sweetest form of physical torture she'd ever known.

She rocked against him greedily, her torso practically pasting itself to his, the material of his wet jeans rough against the thin material of the dress that encased her. Then he was running his firm hands back up her arms and holding her head as he deepened the kiss, causing her to tremble. Her hands moved of their own accord, fumbling with the buttons around his collar before he took her cue and lifted his arms, peeling the material away from him and shaking the excess water off of his hair. Drops landed on his face and she reached to move them away with her thumbs, smiling as she did so, before her fingers dipped back down to knead his broad shoulders. She felt his strength as his muscles rippled under her fingertips, and she sighed into his hot mouth as he leaned in to kiss her again.

For all of the times they had slept together since arriving in Florence, Bruce had never in his life felt anything better than her in this moment. He didn't know if it was the rain or the woman or the circumstance? He only knew that it felt completely right. He assaulted her mouth again and again, needing to taste her and be able to remember it every day after this one – the day that he just _let go_. Became whole again. Left the old Bruce Wayne behind. Selina met his hunger, gripping the waist of his jeans and clawing at the material, her hands only further igniting a fire in him that couldn't be doused. He was tangled in her hair, kissing her everywhere he could. Gliding his lips along her  
wet flesh and tasting the rain. His hands slid lower, until they pushed his wet shirt off of her shoulders and then they were covering her breasts and squeezing. Her mouth tore from his and his stomach clenched when she moaned softly against his ear. The sound was the sexiest thing he'd probably ever heard tumble out of her mouth. He kissed her again slowly, taking his time,teasing her as his hands found the clasp at the back of her dress and began separating the cloth. He pushed the straps down her arms until the top of the dress pooled around her waist, then slid his fingers beneath the sopping material of her bra, roughly yanking it from her. Then his mouth was firmly attached to a hard, dusky nipple, and he felt himself lengthen and _throb _when she cried out, gripping his hair with both hands.

Selina closed her eyes and let the sounds in her throat bubble out into the night air. He was sucking on her breast, and she finally knew what heaven was. It was him. She cried out again when he kissed his way up her neck and lifted her from the ground, carrying her away from the ledge of the building. She wrapped herself around him tightly, finding his mouth and plundering it with her eager tongue. She felt the coolness of a brick wall pressing against her spine, and sank back onto her feet. Her eyes found his for a scorching second, and then she was petting the wet hair back off of his beautiful face and raising herself up onto her toes. She kissed him with everything she had, feeling an intense heat and a familiar wetness pooling in her center. When they needed air, she pulled away and met Bruce's eyes again, seeing a passion that was so pure it was frightening. Neither spoke. She lowered herself, flattening her feet, and leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. He watched her, and then finally rested his chin on her head, breathing steadily too.

Bruce was sure that Selina Kyle was about to allow him to make love to her for the first time, and while he should have been reasonably terrified of her defenses going back up, all he knew was that his heart was open. _Her _heart was open. It was a stupidly beautiful thing, as if without words, they were both asking the other, _Where have you been all my life?_ He could feel her hot breath against his neck, but still he didn't look at her. He kissed the top of her head, and flattened his elbows against the wall, framing her face. After what felt like an eternity, she reached up and touched his cheek. He closed his eyes and then took one last breath before finding her probing stare. He pushed back a little more, propping himself away with his hands, and watched her as her hand sank lower. It stopped at his mouth, lightly touching his lips with the tips of her fingers. She stared for a long time at his lips without moving, and then finally looked down, spinning her fingers around the pearls on her own neck. When she looked up, he saw everything she was feeling. Maybe he knew because he was feeling it too? She touched the pearls and then touched his lips again, and he couldn't breathe. He could only grab her wrist, pinning it against the wall behind her. Then he grasped the other and entwined their fingers, lifting it as well, and then he kissed her. She felt what he wanted her to know in the kiss. That he wasn't letting her go. Not now, not ever. The cat, he figured, had finally gotten his tongue.

Bruce was having trouble keeping breath in his lungs. He wanted her so bad it hurt. Selina had made a habit of illiciting a hunger in him that he couldn't control at all. Not even a little. He closed his eyes while her lips slid along his neck, tasting him and lapping at the water that was pouring from the sky harder than ever. He bent slightly, placing one muscled arm behind her. The other arm gripped the material of the skirt of her dress, lifting it up her thigh and higher still. She bit his earlobe and he got distracted, roughly claiming her mouth in a fiery kiss that melted them both to the bone. He reached behind her, cupping her ass and then he yanked her panties down her muscled legs. They fell to the ground, wrapping around her ankle before she kicked them away.

Her hands made their way to the fly of his jeans and very quickly had it open, reaching inside to run her nails up and down against him through the material of his boxers. "Fuck, Selina," Bruce hissed as he paused to assist her, both of them pushing both the jeans and the material underneath down his legs. His erection sprang free and he pressed himself against her, his arousal sharp against her soft stomach. Then he moved his hands to her hips and she was off the ground, wrapping her thighs over his strong legs. His heat was threatening to destroy her.

Bruce needed her, to be inside of her. He grabbed her thighs and spread them wider, and she bit her lip as she looked at him through smoky eyes, her eyeliner smudged with the wetness of the raindrops hypnotizing him as she reached between them to guide him to her opening. She teased him by shifting her hips and rocking forward and backward, coating the length of him with her own arousal, the pressure of his erection on her clit nearly making her come undone with just those brief seconds of intense contact. Her sensitivity was _that _heightened, and Bruce knew from the glazed-over look in her eyes and the hitch in her gasp that neither of them would last long. Pushing her hands away, he positioned himself at her opening and thrust forward, looking into her eyes as he sank into her body, pushing as deep as he could. They were both panting, and her hands fell to his shoulders as she closed her eyes for a second, adjusting to him. Her thighs squeezed against his hips, and he placed one arm behind her back to protect her from the brick and kept the other on her waist as he began to move inside her, getting more turned on with every tiny sound that escaped her delicate throat.

"Yes…yes," she breathed, her hips pushing against his instinctively, the wetness of their skin enhancing her ability to grind against him a bit faster than usual. She could hear the sounds of their mingled breathing, the raindrops spattering all around them, and nothing else. It was just them.. She opened her mouth and placed her lips over his, sucking in his hot air as he continued to move deep inside her body. She smiled and got lost in the heat of his stare. But the tempo was too slow. She wanted more. She wanted it all. She began to demand it, and he couldn't deny her. Their breathing increased with the pace of their bodies, and she held his head, gripping his hair softly, needing the contact. He slid his hand in between their writhing bodies, searching her folds, and she cried out sharply.

He grinned and felt the first stirrings of everything tensing in his abdomen. Something that lured him closer, pushing for a release that his body craved. He continued his ministrations, touching her where she needed to be touched, and blew out a breath when she let it all go. It was overwhelming, and she convulsed against him and around him, squeezing him with her inner muscles and releasing liquid heat that contrasted sharply with the cold rain pelting the rest of their skin. He bit her neck, still pumping onward, not yet where he needed to be.

Bruce Wayne made Selina Kyle a slave to her own body. It seized, and she felt a fierce passion as her orgasm gripped her, owning her. She shook from the force of it, barely aware of the elements that surrounded her at every turn. The location, the rain, the night. The only thing she knew was her pleasure, and the hard, silky feel of the man who was giving it to her. He was still inside her, still moving and awakening something that she was sure would make her come undone again. But she held tight, pushing her tongue into his mouth as they both struggled to breathe.

If it was possible to die of sheer bliss, then Bruce Wayne was about to succumb to his fate. He whispered her name against her lips and felt her mouth curl into a smile as they continued to touch. He rubbed her tongue with his over and over, desperate for her taste. She gripped his lower back, and rotated her hips several times, literally screwing herself on her lover, and he knew that he was finished. He grabbed her hair and pulled her away, staring at her as he tumbled into the happiest place he'd ever been. His eyes found hers, and he let her see the effect she had over him as his orgasmed, exploding deep into her core. He held his breath, unable to keep his sounds to himself, and he saw true beauty when she cried out into the air, tumbling right along with him. They jerked against each other harshly, each caught up in their own need to draw the pleasure out as long as it would last, slowly finding their way back down to the rooftop that welcomed both of their hearts into the land of the living.

Selina rested her head on Bruce's shoulder as they clung to each other with whatever strength they had left. She had no idea how long they held each other afterward. Both were unable and unwilling to move away. Every touch was a gesture of tenderness, and now she knew the only thing left for her to say to him. Every other harsh word had been stripped away, leaving a raw, bare confession to ease its way from between her lips, almost effortlessly.

She cradled his face between her hands as she looked at him, all of the honesty she could muster spilling from her heart.

"Bruce Wayne, I love you."


End file.
